Cuff link or the like



Jal 9, 1957 W. C. BOOTS CUFF LINK OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 20,. 1954 IN V EN TOR.

United States Patent CUFF LINK OR THE LHE William C. Boots, Rumford, R. L, assignor to Foster Metal Products Incorporated, Attleboro, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 20, 1954, Serial No. 405,166 1 Claim. (Cl. 24--97) This invention comprises a new and improved cufl link, shirt stud or the like of that type in which an anchor or cross bar is arranged to be held as desired in an upright position for insertion or in a transverse position for wear.

Cuff links of this general type as heretofore constructed have usually included a hollow cross bar carrying a spring and other parts which must be assembled and then enclosed by molding or spinning the bar. These prior constructions are expensive both to construct and to assemble, difiicult to repair and of limited life. Moreover, the shank holding the cross bar usually presents a rough end which is objectionable in that it catches on the material of the cuff when the cross bar is passed through the button hole in upright position.

The improved construction of this invention obviates these difiiculties and possesses advantages of outstanding value and importance. The construction is characterized by the employment of a solid anchor bar. This is mounted in a forked shank of resilient material having the upper ends of its forks molded or turned inwardly, thus presenting a smooth, rounded end surface where prior devices have been objectionably rough and harsh to the touch. The inturned ends are provided with parallel straight inturned flanges and these find their seats in star-shaped depressions or shallow grooves intersecting at right angles and formed in the solid material of the anchor bar. The anchor bar may be either rectangular or circular in crosssection. Preferably and as herein shown, the anchor bar is apertured in the axis of the star or intersecting slots, and while this is not necessary, it is advantageous in that it facilitates forming the intersecting slots by a stamping operation by providing adjacent space to be occupied by the displaced metal of the anchor bar and it also may receive journal members projecting inwardly from the forks of the shank.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of several preferred embodiments thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in Which:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of one of the improved cuff links showing the anchor bar in upright position for insertion,

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the anchor bar in cross position for wear,

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective on an enlarged scale of the anchor bar, and

Fig. 4 is a corresponding view in perspective of the shank.

In Figs. 14 the invention is shown as embodied in a cuff link having a circular medallion which, in practice, may be of any desired shape and contour and may be ornamented suitably for the most conspicuous portion of the end link. To this is secured by solder or otherwise a shank comprising a flat base and a pair of upstanding resilient forks 12. At their upper or outer end the forks are turned or molded inwardly forming smooth shoulders 13 and opposed transverse positioning flanges 14 of rectangular contour. From these project short cylindrical journal portions 15. The resilient forks 12 of the shank are biased so that the journal portions 15 are maintained in closely adjacent aligned position.

An anchor bar 16 is suspended between the inturned ends of the forks 12. As best shown in Fig. 3 the anchor bar 16 is of solid stock, rectangular in crosssection, and beveled or tapered at both ends. It is provided centrally with a bore 17 shaped to receive the journal portions 15 of the shank. It is also provided with a longitudinal slot 18 and a transverse slot 19 symmetrically arranged and intersecting at right angles at the axis of the bore 17. The slots are shaped to receive the rectangular flanges 14 of the shank with slight clearance.

In assembling the anchor bar 16 it is necessary only temporarily to spring apart the forks 12 of the shank sufliciently to enter the journal portions in the bore 17 of the anchor bar and with the inturned positioning flanges 14 seated in one or other of the slots 18 or 19 according to the position in which it is desired to hold the anchor bar. As shown in Fig. 1 the positioning flanges are seated in the transverse slot 19 and the anchor bar is accordingly held securely in its upright position in which it may be conveniently inserted through button holes in the sleeve of a shirt or through the stud hole of a shirt. It will be seen that in this position the tapered end of the anchor bar will find its way through the cloth of the garment and that the smooth shoulders 13 at the ends of the shank will follow readily without catching or fraying the material of the garment.

When the anchor bar has been inserted as above explained it is so located that it may be conveniently turned into its cross position as shown in Fig. 2. This may be eflected merely by forcing the bar to turn whereupon the positioning flanges 14, which are tapered or rounded in cross-section, will be sprung out of the longitudinal slot 18 and then spring into the transverse slot 19 as soon as that is brought into registration with them.

The intersecting slots may be formed by milling or by die-forming and the latter operation is facilitated by the presence of the bore in the anchor bar since it provides space into which the metal of the bar may flow.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail several preferred embodiments thereof, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A cufl link including in its structure a shank having resilient upstanding forks, each turned smoothly inwardly with a right angle bend at its upper end and shaped to present a rounded outwardly directed shoulder and a transversely disposed flange of rectangular contour, and a journal stud centrally projecting from each flange, in combination with a solid anchor bar centrally perforated, pivotally suspended on said journal studs and having intersecting grooves in its opposite faces symmetrically disposed with respect to its perforation and receiving the flanges of the shank in predetermined positions of the anchor bar.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,026,153 Degner May 14, 1912 1,518,989 Lindsay Dec. 9, 1924 2,097,373 Hoeckele Oct. 26, 1937 2,161,189 OBrien June 6, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS 326,233 France Feb. 14, 1903 748,189 France Apr. 10, 1933 

